Historical Events in 1962

Events 1 - 200 of 749

• Jan 1 Beatles' Decca audition is unsuccessful
• Jan 1 Rwanda granted internal self-government by Belgium
• Jan 1 Western Samoa gains independence from New Zealand Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili II becomes co-chief of Western Samoa
• Jan 1 United States Navy SEALs established.
• Jan 1 48th Rose Bowl: #6 Minnesota beats #16 UCLA, 21-3
• Jan 1 28th Sugar Bowl: #1 Alabama beats #9 Arkansas, 10-3`
• Jan 1 28th Orange Bowl: #4 LSU beats #7 Colorado, 25-7
• Jan 2 Nighttime version of "Password" with Allen Ludden premieres on CBS
• Jan 3 Ground is broken for the Houston Astrodome

• Jan 4 1st automated (unmanned) subway train in New York City

• Jan 7 AFL Pro Bowl: West beats East 47-27

• Jan 7 Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to John Hall Wheelock
• Jan 8 Dutch express train crashes into slow commuter train, 93 die (Neth)

• Jan 9 Mister M (Dr X) beats Verne Gagne in Minn, to become NWA champ
• Jan 9 NFL prohibits grabbing of face masks
• Jan 9 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Jan 10 Eruptions on Mount Huascaran in Peru destroy 7 villages & kill 3,500
• Jan 11 Volcano Huascaran in Peru erupts killing 4,000
• Jan 12 Operation Chopper begins, America's first combat mission in the Vietnam War
• Jan 13 "Do Re Mi" closes at St James Theater NYC after 400 performances

• Jan 14 NFL Pro Bowl: West beats East 31-30
• Jan 15 Dutch & Indonesian navy encounter in Etna Bay New Guinea

• Jan 15 50th Women's Australian Championships: Margaret Court beats Jan Lehane O'Neill (6-0, 6-2)

• Jan 16 Shooting begins on "Dr No" the first James Bond film
• Jan 16 Suit accuses NYC Board of Education uses "racial quotas"
• Jan 16 12th NBA All-Star Game: West beats East 150-130 at St. Louis

• Jan 17 Roy Harris' 8th Symphony, premieres in San Francisco
• Jan 18 Southern University closed due to demonstrations
• Jan 18 US begins spraying foliage in Vietnam to reveal Viet Cong guerrillas
• Jan 18 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Jan 20 "Kean" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 92 performances
• Jan 21 JFK arrives in Uruguay
• Jan 21 Snow falls in San Francisco


• Jan 22 The Organization of American States suspends Cuba's membership.

• Jan 23 Libya, Morocco, Algeria & Tunisia plan to form United Arab Maghreb
• Jan 23 "Jules et Jim", based on the novel by Henri-Pierre Roché, directed by François Truffau and starring Jeanne Moreau is released
• Jan 24 28 refugees escape from East to West Germany
• Jan 24 Brian Epstein signs management contract with the Beatles

• Jan 26 Bishop Burke of Buffalo Catholic dioceses declares Chubby Checker's "Twist" is impure & bans it from all Catholic schools
• Jan 26 Canadian Marine Service renamed Coast Guard
• Jan 26 David Diamond's 7th Symphony, premieres in Philadelphia
• Jan 26 US launches Ranger 3, misses Moon by 22,000-mi (37,000-km)
• Jan 27 "Family Affair" opens at Billy Rose Theater NYC for 65 performances
• Jan 28 Johanne Relleke gets stung by bees 2,443 times in Rhodesia & survives
• Jan 30 UN General Assembly censures Portugal over Angola
• Jan 30 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Jan 30 2 members of Flying Wallendas' high-wire act killed when their 7-person pyramid collapsed during a performance in Detroit
• Jan 30 Laughter epidemic begins at a girls' mission school in Kashasha, Tanganyika, goes on to affect 14 schools and over 1000 people
• Jan 31 General Charles P Cabell, USAF, ends term as deputy director of CIA
• Jan 31 Samuel Gravely assumes command of destroyer escort "USS Falgout", first African American to command a combat ship
• Feb 1 "New Faces of '62" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 28 performances
• Feb 1 NL releases its 1st 162-game schedule
• Feb 2 1st pole vault over 16' (4.88m) (John Uelses-16', Melrose Games)
• Feb 2 8 of 9 planets align for 1st time in 400 years
• Feb 2 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
• Feb 3 John Uelses pole vaults record 489 cm

• Feb 4 "Gay Life" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 113 performances
• Feb 4 Russian newspaper Izvestia reports baseball is an old Russian game
• Feb 4 US female Figure Skating championship won by Barbara Roles
• Feb 4 US male Figure Skating championship won by Monty Hoyt
• Feb 5 French President de Gaulle calls for Algeria's independence
• Feb 5 Suit to bar Englewood NJ from "racial segregated" schools, filed
• Feb 5 Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn all within 16 degrees
• Feb 6 Schoolman Athletic Field in the Bronx named
• Feb 7 Gas explosion in Luisanthal coal mine Voelklingen Germany kills 298
• Feb 7 US President JFK begins blockade of Cuba by banning all Cuban imports and exports.
• Feb 7 Sam Snead wins LPGA Royal Poinciano Plaza Golf Invitational
• Feb 8 KACB TV channel 3 in San Angelo, TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
• Feb 8 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Feb 8 In Paris, 8 people killed at a protest against independence for the French colony Algeria
• Feb 9 Jamaica signs agreement to become independent
• Feb 9 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Feb 10 Jim Beatty sets American indoor mile record (3:58.9) in LA
• Feb 10 USSR swaps spy Francis Gary Power to US for Rudolph Abel
• Feb 11 Beatles record "Please, Please Me"
• Feb 12 Bus boycott starts in Macon, Georgia

• Feb 15 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Feb 16 Darius Milhaud's 12th Symphony premieres
• Feb 16 "La Jetée", French film directed by Chris Marker, starring Hélène Chatelain, Davos Hanich and Jacques Ledoux, is released
• Feb 17 Beach Boys introduced a new musical style with their hit "Surfin"
• Feb 17 Storm in Hamburg kills 265
• Feb 17 Wilt Chamberlain of NBA Philadelphia Warriors scores 67 points vs St Louis Hawks
• Feb 18 France & Algerian Muslims negotiate truce to end 7 year war
• Feb 18 Louise Suggs wins LPGA St Petersburg Golf Open
• Feb 18 4th Daytona 500: Fireball Roberts wins (152.529 MPH)
• Feb 19 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

• Feb 21 Minister De Pous confirms natural gas reserves in Groningen, Netherlands
• Feb 22 Wilt Chamberlain sets NBA record with 34 free throw attempts
• Feb 23 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Feb 24 "New Faces of '62" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 28 performances
• Feb 24 "Sail Away" closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 167 performances
• Feb 24 General mobilization in Indonesia over New-Guinea
• Feb 24 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Feb 25 India Congress Party wins elections
• Feb 25 Mike O'Hara completes record 97th marathon

• Feb 25 Wilt Chamberlain of NBA Philadelphia Warriors scores 67 points vs NY Knicks for the second year in a row
• Feb 26 Arthur Kopit's "Oh, Dad, Poor Dad . . ." premieres in NYC


• Feb 26 US Supreme court disallows race separation on public transportation

• Feb 28 WMGM-AM in New York City changes call letters to WHN
• Mar 1 American Airlines 707 plunges nose first into Jamaica Bay, NY, killing 95
• Mar 1 Kresge Corporation openes the first Kmart store in Garden City, Michigan
• Mar 1 US and British nuclear test experiment in Nevada
• Mar 2 JFK announces US will resume above ground nuclear testing
• Mar 2 Wilt Chamberlain scores incredible 100 points in an NBA game
• Mar 2 In Burma, the army led by General Ne Win seizes power in a coup
• Mar 3 British Antarctic Territory forms
• Mar 3 9th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: Wake Forest beats Clemson, 77-66
• Mar 4 AEC announces 1st atomic power plant in Antarctica in operation
• Mar 5 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

• Mar 6 St Louis vote to build a new downtown stadium for the Cardinals
• Mar 6 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Mar 6 US promise Thailand assistance against communist aggression
• Mar 7 Beatles made their broadcasting debut on BBC radio
• Mar 7 Launch of OSO 1, 1st astronomy satellite (solar flare data)
• Mar 8 Beatles, with Pete Best, TV debut (perform "Dream Baby" on BBC)
• Mar 8 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Mar 9 Egyptian President Nasser declares Gaza belongs to Palestinians
• Mar 9 US advisors in South-Vietnam join the fight
• Mar 10 Due to its no black policy, Phillies leave Jack Tar Harrison Hotel & move to Rocky Point Motel, 20 miles outside Clearwater, Florida
• Mar 12 Dutch Premier De Quay announces secret talks with Indonesia
• Mar 13 Yugoslavia grants 1,000 prisoners amnesty
• Mar 14 Disarmament conference opens in Geneva without France

• Mar 15 Richard Rodger's musical "No Strings" opens at 84th St Theater NYC for 580 performances
• Mar 15 Five research groups announce the discovery of anti-matter
• Mar 15 Donald Jackson of Canada is 1st to land a triple lutz ice skate jump
• Mar 15 KATU TV channel 2 in Portland, OR (ABC) begins broadcasting
• Mar 15 Wilt Chamberlain is 1st to score 4,000 pts in an NBA season
• Mar 16 1st launching of Titan 2-rocket
• Mar 16 US Super-Constellation disappears above Pacific Ocean, kills 167
• Mar 18 Algerian War ends after 7½ yrs (250,000 die), Ben Bella flees

• Mar 18 7th Eurovision Song Contest: Isabelle Aubret for France wins singing "Un premier amour" in Luxembourg
• Mar 19 "All American" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 80 performances
• Mar 19 Archbishop Suenens of Mechelen-Brussels appointed cardinal


• Mar 20 Sjoukje Dijkstra becomes world champion figure skater
• Mar 21 Yogi the bear becomes the 1st creature to be ejected at supersonic speeds by the US military testing ejection seats
• Mar 21 Dutch RC bishop Beckers declares himself in favor of birth control
• Mar 21 Philadelphia retires pitcher Robin Roberts' # 36
• Mar 22 "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" opens at Shubert NYC for 300 performances
• Mar 23 JFK visits San Francisco
• Mar 23 Nawab of Pataudi captains India cricket v WI age 21 years 77 days
• Mar 23 Wake Forest coach "Bones" McKinney becomes 2nd person to play and coach
• Mar 23 William DeWitt buys Cincinnati Reds for $4,625,000
• Mar 24 24th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Cin beats Ohio State 71-59

• Mar 24 Welterweight boxing title fight between Benny Paret and Emile Griffith, Paret knocked out 13th round, dies 10 days later. First use of television slow motion replay.
• Mar 25 "Family Affair" closes at Billy Rose Theater NYC after 65 performances
• Mar 25 French OAS-leader ex-general Jouhaud arrested
• Mar 26 US Supreme Court backs 1-man-1-vote apportionment of seats in state legistature
• Mar 27 Ann Jellicoe's play "Knack" premieres in London
• Mar 27 Archbishop Rummel ends race segregation in New Orlean Catholic school

• Mar 28 Devastating 8 for 6 spell by Gibbs gives WI cricket victory over India
• Mar 28 Military coup in Syria, President Nazim al-Kudsi flees
• Mar 29 Argentine President Arturo Frondizi flees from the army
• Mar 29 Jack Paar's final appearance on the "Tonight Show"
• Mar 31 116th Grand National: Fred Winter aboard Kilmore wins
• Apr 2 The first official Panda crossing is opened outside Waterloo station, London.
• Apr 3 American jockey Eddie Arcaro retires after 31 years (24,092 races)
• Apr 3 Lt General Marshall S Carter, USA, becomes deputy director of CIA
• Apr 5 Herb Gardner's "Thousand Clowns" premieres in NYC
• Apr 5 Mgr J Daems appointed bishop of Antwerp
• Apr 5 NASA civilian pilot Neil Armstrong takes X-15 to 54,600 m
• Apr 5 St Bernard Tunnel finished-Swiss/Italians workers shake hands
• Apr 7 Umrigar slams 172* v WI at Port-of-Spain in 248 minutes
• Apr 7 Yugoslav ex-president Milovan Djilas returns to jail
• Apr 8 Accords of Evian (Algeria) accepted by referendum in France

• Apr 9 JFK throws out 1st ball at Washington's new DC Stadium
• Apr 10 1st baseball game at LA's Dodger Stadium, they lose 6-3 to Reds
• Apr 10 1st major league game in Houston, Colt .45s beat Chicago Cubs, 11-2

• Apr 11 New York Mets make a losing debut
• Apr 12 San Mateo County withdraws from BART (San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit) district

• Apr 13 US steel industry forced to give up price increases
• Apr 14 Demonstration for sovereign status of New-Guinea in Amsterdam

• Apr 15 US national debt above $300,000,000,000
• Apr 16 Brazil nationalizes US businesses

• Apr 18 16th NBA Championship: Boston Celtics beat LA Lakers, 4 games to 3

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